


Stand firm

by SlowestThingInTheWorld



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Carapace!Nino, Civilian!Adrien, Inverted AU?, M/M, Maybe attempted suicide? But not really?, No one gets hurt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-20
Updated: 2019-05-20
Packaged: 2020-03-08 08:46:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,279
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18891181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SlowestThingInTheWorld/pseuds/SlowestThingInTheWorld
Summary: “Come over here and make me,” Adrien dared.





	Stand firm

“Come over here and make me,” Adrien dared.

“Adrien!” Gabriel’s eyes were wild, maybe the only real expression Adrien saw him wear in months. “You’re going to fall!”

Honestly, Adrien wasn’t really planning on jumping out of his window. He just wanted some social interaction other than Natalie or Gorilla, and being homeschooled didn’t help him.

At that time his father seemed to be the next best choice and that was why they were in this situation.

But with him being half out of the window, Adrien basked in his short moment of power, full of adrenaline whether it was caused by his dangerous position or his bold act of rebellion against his father, and he wondered that maybe with a broken limb, his father would care for him a little longer before isolating himself again. It sounded like an appealing idea to Adrien.

He carefully wiggled himself closer to the edge.

Gabriel shot a hand forward; his sharp inhale of breath was loud in Adrien’s gigantic room. He had calmed down from his initial shock, but he was still out of reach. “Adrien, you’re endangering yourself for nothing, this is no acceptable behavior.”

Adrien dared to parrot him in a mocking voice.

Gabriel took a steadying breath, his eyebrows pinched like he was debating between being worried or just finish the job himself. With a sense of satisfaction, Adrien righted himself, staring back outside.

He didn’t know what to do after. He didn’t want to jump, but he also didn’t want to go back down, like his father asked. It would just be humiliating and like admitting defeat. Adrien wanted this event to stay with his father forever, scar him mentally and to make him think. The only outcome that would benefit him was if Gabriel would accept to make some major changes on his life for his son now.

Except Adrien felt frustrated. It was likely never going to happen and his father’s staff went to get help not long ago. On the other hand, his father was wrong if he thought that Adrien wasn’t going to fight tooth and nail when they would be here to drag him from his spot. His days of being an obedience son ended now, he decided.

A shadow flew over Adrien, distracting him from his thoughts, and something landed with a loud thump on the roof, just above him. It was too heavy to be a bird, even a big one, so Adrien twisted around with haste and precaution, conscious that he was far enough from the ground to cause damage if he did one wrong move, but not wanting to miss what caught his attention.

He had not been careful enough. The quick change of angle caused him to be disoriented, which in turn made him panic, scramble for a better grip, but, curse his bad luck, made him lose his grip instead. His body pitched forward. Adrien’s mind went blank.

He didn’t even have time to scream when something grabbed him by the elbow and stopped him from going further. He gasped for air, heart hammering against his chest, feet dangling, and very much aware that the only thing keeping him from his fall was the solid grip on his elbow. He realized after a few seconds of shock that someone was saying “Rich people have weird hobbies man” while pulling Adrien upward. A laugh bubbled in his throat, but he didn’t want to risk anything, so he stayed as still as he could during his rescue.

The moment he had his feet on the floor of his room, his father was there to give him a rare hug, which he returned with force.

Adrien’s body was trembling, and it didn’t go unnoticed by Gabriel, who frowned. “You see? What you just did was stupid and childish.”

The warm moment was gone in a second. Adrien tensed up and pulled away from the embrace. His father was already back to normal. Adrien was disgusted at it. He suddenly had the urge to be as far away as possible from here.

Adrien shoved his father with his shoulder on his way to the door, irrationally angry at everything. When he passed the door, he broke into a run to the main entrance’s doors, eager to get out of this place.

He ran, ran and ran.

When it was too much for his legs, he collapsed on the nearest flat surface, and tried to control his bubbling anger and his panting. He couldn’t think clearly. He distantly realized that he ended up in the park.

A beep from his phone drew his attention. He took the time to sit properly on what turned out to be a bench and shakily thumbed his phone.

It was from the news. About him. His inevitable rebellion. There was a shaky footage, quite close to the mansion, of him prior to his fall. The shadow and the thing that saved him turned out to be a big turtle.

Carapace.

Of course, Adrien knew of him. With easy access to the internet and lots of free time, he was bound to end up on the Ladyblog, with footage of almost every fight the heroes were involved in. They were adored by everyone in this city.

Naturally, because of his “homeschooling”, Adrien never got the opportunity to meet them, let alone interact with them. With that being said, the video of Carapace being near him and saving him was quite surreal.

When his mind flashed to earlier, guilt flooded him, making him flush in shame. He was so focused on his father that he didn’t even look at Carapace once or thanked him!

“Hey, you alright? That was kinda tense in here.” Adrien turned to the voice, and Carapace was suddenly here, sympathy in his eyes behind his goggles. 

Surprised at his sudden appearance, Adrien glanced around and sure enough, some people stopped to gawk at the superhero, but the Carapace’s attention seemed to be solely on him, unbothered by their audience.

Adrien barely knew Carapace, he shouldn’t impose on him his problems, that was just impolite. “It could be better,” he settled for. Before Carapace could comment on it, he pressed on, “Thank you, by the way, for saving me.” He paused. “Because of my own stupidity.”

Carapace blinked at the change of subject and huffed while leaning on the bench. “It’s fine man, it’s what we do, and you had a good reason for it, I’m sure, with what I saw.”

Adrien didn’t want to talk about it, so he didn’t comment further, contemplating what else to add. Carapace was staring at him, and looked like he was thinking about something too, and before Adrien could ask about it, he walked away from him. “Come on, all of this rescuing exhausted me, and you need to pay me back for my services.”

He stopped when he realized that Adrien wasn’t following,. “Come on, I know a small bakery shop not far and I need to replenish my strength. Do you know how _heavy_ you are?”  
At this, Adrien snapped to his sense, and let out an indignant _hey_. He quickly caught up to the hero and punched his arm, careful not to use all his strength. Carapace moved with the punch while laughing but didn’t complain.

He had a nice laugh, thought Adrien.

After a few minutes of walking, Adrien remembered, “Oh crap, I forgot my wallet, I got out so fast-”. But Carapace only waved him off, kindly smiling, “You’ll pay for next time then.”

Adrien watched him, a light blush warming up his face, as his mouth slowly formed a shy grin.

**Author's Note:**

> Carapace makes my heart go uwu


End file.
